For Immediate Release

First SIGGRAPH Asia sees significant participation from the regions talents

Half of entries at Computer Animation Festival as well as those showcased in the Art Gallery are from Asia

Singapore, 10 November 2008 Recognizing Asias rising importance in the computer graphics and digital media industries, the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) is bringing the highly regarded SIGGRAPH Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques to the region this year the first time an Asian version of the SIGGRAPH Conference is to be held in its 34-year history.

The inaugural SIGGRAPH Asia 2008 will be held from December 10th to 13th at the Suntec International Convention and Exhibition Centre in Singapore.

There are nine main programs in SIGGRAPH Asia, mirroring the successful format that SIGGRAPH in North America has offered to interactive and digital media practitioners worldwide annually.

 

Art Gallery: showcasing digital media artwork utilizing a range of formats

Computer Animation Festival: featuring animation pieces, visual effects and other interactive platforms, including real-time graphics

Courses: workshops and hands-on sessions for practitioners and enthusiasts

Educators Program: sharing best practices in developing talents in the industry

Emerging Technologies: demos and installations of upcoming industry benchmarks

Job Fair: connecting employers to the industrys talents

Sketches and Posters: exchanging breakthrough ideas through stimulating forums

Technical Papers: presenting new and provocative work in the industry

Trade Exhibition: collating products and services to aid purchase decisions

 

Asia leads the pack with provocative new ideas

Asia is fast making its mark globally in the field of computer graphics and interactive techniques and SIGGRAPH Asia has the numbers to support this. Half of the pieces displayed at SIGGRAPH Asias Art Gallery Program were developed in the region.

The move to include Asia in ACM SIGGRAPHs event calendar was also spurred by the increasing enthusiasm and interest generated from the region. According to the ACM, Asian submitters to the SIGGRAPH Technical Papers program increased by an overwhelming 300 percent from 1998 to 2005.

SIGGRAPH Asia 2008 Fact Sheet

 

The inaugural SIGGRAPH Asia 2008 will be held from December 10th to 13th at the Suntec International Convention and Exhibition Centre in Singapore.

 

For four days, SIGGRAPH Asia presents a palate of exciting new works, ideas, technologies and techniques in the field of computer graphics as well as interactive and digital media through nine major programs.

The line-up includes:

 

Art Gallery The Art Gallery is a festival of creativity showcasing emotive works that inspire contemplation and discovery. A total of 21 creative pieces will be showcased in a display covering a range of media, including hybrid formats, ubiquitous sounds, as well as zero-gravity space art.

The visual treat includes NHK Japans Three Little Pigs in the CG Theater, a peek into a new style of content creation for a puppet show developed by the broadcaster, regarded as an industry breakthrough that will expand the boundaries of TV programming and interactive elements. For a touch of interactive, Tsutomu Mutoh from the International Media Research Foundation of Japan will be installing a platform that demonstrates a technique for colour composition using human perception of colour consistency in Option Tone Dynamic Colour Composition.

 

Computer Animation Festival (CAF) The highly anticipated and much-loved program of ACM SIGGRAPH in North America comes to Asia, bringing with it the latest benchmarks of visual effects and animation from around the world.

SIGGRAPH Asias Computer Animation Festival received a total of 685 submissions from 44 countries including 294 from Asia. Sixty-eight of the most remarkable pieces will be screened through the CAFs four platforms, namely, Electronic Theatre, Animation Theatre, Special Program and Invited Screenings.

Highlights in each category include features from a myriad of sources, such as internationally renowned production houses including Passion Pictures (United Kingdom), Blizzard Entertainment (USA); schools such as Gobelins, L